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RE: On the importance of leg day
(01-22-2014 04:01 PM)Mage Wrote: do an additional leg exercise (cycle calves and hamstrings) every training.
(01-22-2014 03:21 PM)Remington Wrote: Single leg curls with three second negatives will make that muscle blow up.
Do any athletes do leg curls or calf exercises? Maybe a glute-ham raise. Besides, calves are mostly genetic. Plenty of sedentary women have bigger calves than Lou Ferrigno (before he injected Synthol).
(01-22-2014 06:09 PM)Statsi Wrote: Us stronglifts guys are beasting our legs 3 days a week, the worst part is walking down stairs right after.
You are supposed to add five pounds every workout, fifteen pounds per week. How many years have you done it, and what is your squat now?
(01-22-2014 06:15 PM)Cunnilinguist Wrote: Would you guys say leg presses are a decent substitute for squats?
Do the 45 degree sled leg press while you work on squat. Squat very light to work on form, perhaps as a warm up or after leg press. Try a board under your heels. Try front squats. Experiment and eventually you will be able to squat.
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| 01-23-2014 07:35 AM |
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Mage
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RE: On the importance of leg day
(This post was last modified: 01-23-2014 08:12 AM by Mage.)
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| 01-23-2014 08:05 AM |
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kosko
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RE: On the importance of leg day
(01-22-2014 06:15 PM)Cunnilinguist Wrote: Would you guys say leg presses are a decent substitute for squats? I know squats are king but I was just wondering if heavy leg presses will get the job done in terms of building quads. To be honest, every time I do squats, it feels out of whack, correct form and all. I'm willing to sacrifice the gains offered by doing squats in favor of something safer.
Knee pressing isn't the same as squatting or stimulating your legs. Your essentially just extending your knees versus stimulating your legs to power through a set of weights (squats). Squats will always be awkward at first, start with low weight and work your way up. You can use a standing squat machine as a substitute, it will help, but it's not the same. Go low on your squats to build up form and and then go heavy on a machine use that for mass training. One tip is to make sure you work the back of your shoulders/upper back region, if this section is weak the bar will feel awkward on you even with a barbell pad.
I can squat a good fuking amount. My legs have always been strong but lately I've going low weight to work on my smaller muscle fibers and to work on truly being able to "ass to grass". I also focus on front squats more, try that out and you might prefer it better to the traditional back squat.
No dudes should neglect squats. You start feeling like a bitch when you see girls knocking down 205 in the rack, a lot of guys can't even do that since they never squat, but it's easy to reach that mark even as a newbie (2 months).
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| 01-23-2014 01:24 PM |
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StrikeBack
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RE: On the importance of leg day
It will help you guys to think of the squat as less of a "leg day" thing and more as a fundamental human body movement, which requires frequent practice. I've fixed many people's chronic back and knee issues with squatting, then transformed their strength and fitness afterwards.
Your legs won't necessarily get too huge from squatting. If they do, you're doing too many reps per sets, you're getting fat or you're just imagining it. I've been doing daily squatting John Broz style (look it up) for 4 months now and my legs actually have gone down a tiny bit in size (-1cm) although they look thicker and more defined. The trick is heavy weights (my 1RM is 2.5xBW, and I frequently train with about 2xBW), low reps (usually 2-3) and a zillion sets.
I'm an easy gainer, I put on muscles (and fat) relatively easily, and even I don't get ridiculously huge legs just because I squat a lot. Some of my lifting partners (I do powerlifting) are skinnier guys who squat even more weights, and if you look at them (they're athletic and fit, but slim) you wouldn't believe it. You're not in any danger of becoming Hulk-legged by squatting a few times a week. Just don't do the stupid bodybuilding squat till your legs burn and pump, but think practicing the squat movement for strength and movement quality instead.
Leg press is not a substitute because it's a very unnatural (and rather useless) movement: knee extension without hip extension, also it doesn't have any requirement for balance.
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| 01-28-2014 11:48 PM |
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Remington, Checkmat
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